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Re: You know a team that scares me?

Yes. That, and it would just surprise me if they leap all the way from what they did last postseason to making it to the Finals, but then again the West does feel a bit weaker at the top (insofar as there's no one who is clearly going to keep everyone else out of the Finals at this point), so who knows.

For now, my assumption is Doc Rivers will get the Clippers' act together by the end of the year and they'll have that Celtic-like quality of hanging around every game, and with Chris Paul there that could be problematic for their opponent.

I'm very skeptical of the Clippers. I think OKC with a healthy Westbrook will be tough to beat, and San Antonio can never be counted out. Clippers and Warriors right there at 3/4 for me. Clippers will probably win more regular season games, but the lack of defense and horrendous free throw shooting by the Jordan/Griffin frontcourt is going to hurt them in tight games.

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Re: You know a team that scares me?

The Warriors are sort of the Denver Broncos of the NBA (not that they have a Peyton type guy on their team but still). Most nights, especially with little preparation, they're going to smoke a lot of teams. Give a lot of time to prepare and days off and a playoff atmosphere and you got a shot at beating them, and I'm still not totally sold on Jackson as a head coach.

"It's just unfortunate that we've been penalized so much this year and nothing has happened to the Pistons, the Palace or the city of Detroit," he said. "It's almost like it's always our fault. The league knows it. They should be ashamed of themselves to let the security be as lax as it is around here."

Re: You know a team that scares me?

I don't know about the rest of the team but Detroit's front line is terrifying.

Yea, the Drummond/Monroe combo is going to be a force next year if not this.

That being said, they have Brandon Jennings and Josh Smith, they have two of the lowest basketball I.Q.s in the NBA in my opinion. They are capable of having great games, but over the course of a 7 game series I don't see them making the right decision enough times.

We saw Smith last year in the playoffs and he was a black hole for the Hawks.

Re: You know a team that scares me?

Yea, the Drummond/Monroe combo is going to be a force next year if not this.

That being said, they have Brandon Jennings and Josh Smith, they have two of the lowest basketball I.Q.s in the NBA in my opinion. They are capable of having great games, but over the course of a 7 game series I don't see them making the right decision enough times.

We saw Smith last year in the playoffs and he was a black hole for the Hawks.

I think the people that say josh smith is a dumb player are the same people that thought Rasheed Wallace was a dumb player....

He's far from perfect, but that doesn't outweigh the incredible amount of versatility he brings to the table. He's an excellent defender, passer and rebounder, but because he take the occasional bad three, he's stupid? Not exactly fair.

As for Jennings, I'm not going to defend him to that extent because he hasn't shown the same body of work, but if you think he doesn't know who his teammates are, you're fooling yourself.

I'd add Andrew Bogut pre-injury had by far the best PER of his career playing with Jennings.

Last edited by Kstat; 10-31-2013 at 07:43 PM.

It wasn't about being the team everyone loved, it was about beating the teams everyone else loved.

Re: You know a team that scares me?

Yea, the Drummond/Monroe combo is going to be a force next year if not this.

That being said, they have Brandon Jennings and Josh Smith, they have two of the lowest basketball I.Q.s in the NBA in my opinion. They are capable of having great games, but over the course of a 7 game series I don't see them making the right decision enough times.

We saw Smith last year in the playoffs and he was a black hole for the Hawks.

Yeah Jennings doesn't scare me but the only thing to dislike about smiths play is effort and shot selection. When he try's he's an elite defender, creative passer and powerful finisher. Matched with Moose and ADrum he's going to be terrific. Plus he wanted out of Atlanta. There's no comparison there for me really.

"There is a time to play and a time to win. It is what you do during winning time that differentiates the average players from stars."

Re: You know a team that scares me?

I think the people that say josh smith is a dumb player are the same people that thought Rasheed Wallace was a dumb player....

He's far from perfect, but that doesn't outweigh the incredible amount of versatility he brings to the table. He's an excellent defender, passer and rebounder, but because he take the occasional bad three, he's stupid? Not exactly fair.

Did you see the Pacers/Hawks series?

If Josh Smith had George Hill's brain, Atlanta could have taken that series.

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Re: You know a team that scares me?

Yeah, they played good defense during the regular season last year but they were awful during the playoffs. They gave up 102.5 pts. Steph Curry is a turnstile on defense, and allowing the opposing teams PG to do whatever they want will decimate whatever defense you have.

When they demonstrate the ability to stop people from scoring, then they'll be a real threat.

They weren't that bad. Points given up is not a fair barometer for them because they play a fast style. They were 8th in defensive FG% ahead of the Grizzlies and Bulls. Plus they played Denver who plays really fast, and the spurs who play a lot faster than they used to and are very difficult to defend.

But I think to say the Warriors defense is bad, poor, not good, is simply not true anymore. They might not be one of top 4 or 5, but certainly top 10.

Re: You know a team that scares me?

They weren't that bad. Points given up is not a fair barometer for them because they play a fast style. They were 8th in defensive FG% ahead of the Grizzlies and Bulls. Plus they played Denver who plays really fast, and the spurs who play a lot faster than they used to and are very difficult to defend.

But I think to say the Warriors defense is bad, poor, not good, is simply not true anymore. They might not be one of top 4 or 5, but certainly top 10.

yeah, they only gave up 2 more points than us in defensive efficiency in the playoffs last year and added Iguodala and Bogut should be healthier.

Re: You know a team that scares me?

I don't care what the efficiency stats are, they don't pass the eye test. They have zero defense in their backcourt. Not only is Curry a bad defender, so is Klay Thompson. It should be embarassing for Klay to get abused in the post by CP3 last night, considering he has 6-7 inches on him, and CP3 was getting layups. Yes, I understand it's CP3.

When your defense cannot stop the point of attack, you don't have a good defense. They'll be fun to watch run up and down, for sure though.

EDIT: Denver actually had a better defensive rating than GSW, to put it into perspective.

What if someone from a school of business or management school were to ask, How did you do this? How did you get the Pacers turned around? Is there a general approach you've taken that can be summarized?

Re: You know a team that scares me?

Kinds weird that the Eastern Conference is probably a dominant force now.

Yeah, like anyone believes THAT. The top conference will always be considered to be the West because they score a lot. Unlike the past, where the West was better than the East because its top teams were so high it explained why its bottom teams stunk so bad, now the West ranks high because the East may have the top teams in the league but their bottom teams stink so bad. See the difference?

BillS

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Or throw in a first-round pick and flip it for a max-level point guard...

Re: You know a team that scares me?

Outside of the top 8 the east still stinks. It's just on a level ground with the west now.

If anyone would actually say that, I'd be fine. Unfortunately, there's a pretty strong West bias that won't be overcome unless the East is better than the West from top to bottom. Until then, no matter how much they might be the same, the West will be considered stronger.

BillS

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Or throw in a first-round pick and flip it for a max-level point guard...

Re: You know a team that scares me?

Yeah, like anyone believes THAT. The top conference will always be considered to be the West because they score a lot. Unlike the past, where the West was better than the East because its top teams were so high it explained why its bottom teams stunk so bad, now the West ranks high because the East may have the top teams in the league but their bottom teams stink so bad. See the difference?

It's not just rhetoric or playing style for why people believe the West is better though. It's that they've been dominating the head to head on a yearly basis. Last year it was West 262, East 188. Only 3 teams in the East had a winning record against the West. 10 West teams had a winning record against the East.

Until the East can make that gap significantly smaller, it's going to be hard for them to have an argument. The best that the East can point to right now is that while they might not be the better conference as a whole, they very well might have the best teams.

Re: You know a team that scares me?

I agree that the West has been stronger recently. However, the West has been considered to be the stronger conference for almost 20 years - through the Bulls championships all the way up to the current Miami era. Some of those years, they were right. But they change the criteria - is it head to head? Well, if one conference has a couple of really awful teams that everyone beats up on, the win numbers are going to be skewed even if the rest of the conference breaks even. When the West had two God-awful teams and the head-to-head numbers didn't look as good, it was considered better because the top teams were better than the East's top teams, or the superstar was better, or the point differential was better. There's simply a bias toward the West's offensively-focused ball being "exciting" while a defensive struggle in the East is "booooooring" - and the judging criteria are adjusted accordingly.

This isn't something that's really important. It isn't even a major rant. It's just something that has chapped my tuchis for a number of years.

BillS

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Or throw in a first-round pick and flip it for a max-level point guard...